Ravi Shankar Prasad for cyber audit of firms in IT business

NEW DELHI: Government today said that companies with information technology as significant part of their business should get their cyber security audit by third party and appoint an officer to manage their IT security.

"All organisations having significant IT profile must appoint cyber security officer. We have list of IT auditors for third party audit of the IT profile of the company, whether it is security compliant or not," Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

The minister said that government has prepared list of 35 auditors to give parallel view on preparedness of cyber security of IT companies.

Prasad said that government is in process of setting up National Cyber Coordination Centre to provide near real time situational awareness and rapid response to cyber attacks. Government has earmarked Rs 985 crore for the project which is to be completed in five years.

Among slew of announcements, Prasad said that government is soon going to frame policy for development of software products.

"India has done very well in the field of software service. Now time has come for software products. The draft policy on software product policy is ready. We are going to put it in public domain, take their views and finalise it," he said.

Government is also looking to expand Common Service Centres to 2.5 lakh by end of this fiscal for providing digital services, Prasad said.

"Substantial growth of e-commerce business is coming from rural India. E-commerce sector turnover was Rs 1.25 lakh crore in December last year. This year it is expected to reach 2.11 lakh crore," Prasad said.

He said that interest of companies have grown in electronics manufacturing in the country and government has received investment proposal of Rs 1,26,838 crore till date.

"40 new mobile manufacturing units have been set up in the country, 12 mobile components and accessories have been set. When I took over as IT minister,investment proposal in electronic manufacturing was Rs 13,800 crore and till October 2016 investment proposal worth Rs 1.26 lakh crore have come," Prasad said.